Three commentaries raise a number of issues concerning current developments in biotechnology research and engineering. We hope these pieces will provoke ongoing discussion of how we as progressive people should respond to these events.
Category - No 5
In West Central Minnesota, local farmers have been opposing an electrical transmission line for over four years. The resistance dates back to the very first information meeting staged by the utilities. The public relations person for the utility company said at the meeting, "You should be proud to have the biggest...
With the breeding and marketing of new “improved” varieties, traditional varieties are being replaced. Farmers and gardeners stop growing them. Field after field is planted with one variety. Where thousands of varieties of wheat once grew, only a few can now be seen. When these traditional plant varieties are lost...
With recombinant DNA technology in the hands of industry – aided by academic scientists – we can expect continued exposure to biological risks, and continued benefits to private interests at public expense. As David Suzuki, a geneticist, wrote three years ago, "What could be more explosive than the application in...
In recent years labor unions have become more and more interested in problems in the work environment. In Denmark unions have initiated research into social and medical problems related to work. Their goal has been to make the workplace safe for their members and to track down work-related health hazards and illness...
But ever since last December, when Washington was notified that chemical industry representatives were offering multi-million dollar deals to Third World leaders in exchange for guaranteed dumping sites, an ad hoc committee of representatives from the State Department, the EPA, and the Council on Environmental Quality...
The spraying of herbicides violated the spirit of treaties outlawing chemical warfare. Technological blindness and cynicism promoted a method of war which was not only destructive, but accomplished little militarily. There is proposed legislation in the U.S. Congress to build a new variety of nerve gas projectile, the...
A fine, light rain has fallen, still caught and held by fan-shaped leaves of the gingko trees along the avenue. There is an earthy smell in the air. The day started cooly enough, but warmed-up quite suddenly so that by ten o'clock I already feel that little pool of sweat forming in the small of my back, reminding me...
The "magical year" 1968 initiated a trend in Holland toward democratization, especially within the university. One of the results of the student movement that brought about many such changes at the university was the Science Shop, whose development we wish to describe in this article.